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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Easy DIY Bathtub Tray

I'm hosting a craft night at the ReStore in a couple weeks and I think I came up with a project that will be fun and useful! It was kinda tricky because while many DIY projects are easy-ish, they require a lot of time between steps. After poking around on the interwebs, I decided to try a mash-up of several bathtub trays I've seen; paring it down to make the project simple and quick so we can finish it in one evening. The event is on July 16th from six to eight and I've been told there will be wine! I hope you'll join us, click here to sign up! If you can't make it to the ReStore, I've put together a little tutorial on the bathtub tray we'll be making.

First, I measured the edge-to-edge width of our bathtub, which is a pretty standard thirty one inches. Then I hit up the ReStore where I found a piece of wood and a pair of ah-mazing brass handles. Seriously, if you need hardware, try the ReStore first! They have a meeeellion drawer pulls, handles and knobs to choose from and the prices are so affordable; I think I paid three dollars for everything and a friendly staff member even cut the board for me!

Once I had my materials, I sanded the board a little, wiped it down and applied two coats of stain, waiting an hour between coats. Then I applied a couple layers of clear poly spray and let it dry overnight. I'll be honest, sanding is easy, but tedious, and I should have spent more time on it. You'll see in the finished pics below where there are some half circle sanding marks that would make any self-respecting wood worker itch!

Next, Jesse helped me measure and drill holes for my handles. I'm trying to learn how to do this stuff myself, so he explained to me that he used a counter sink drill bit because it makes a little recessed spot for the screws to sit in. Noted!Lastly, no one wants their glass of wine to end up in the tub, so I added some adhesive grippy bars for extra stability.

Ugh, there are the sloppy sanding circles I mentioned above. In real life they are much less noticeable, but if I use the bathtub tray a lot I'll probably remove the hardware and give it another go. Anyways, let's ignore them and talk about those gorgeous brass handles! They were all black and tarnished when I rescued them from a bin at the ReStore, but a little Brasso spruced 'em right up!

I also added a pothos plant in a clear plastic container; there is a skylight in the shower, so I think it should do well. I'm not the best at keeping plants alive (I'm trying to get better!), but I love how they magically make a space feel finished and I have one in almost every room.I can't wait to try this little bathtub tray with a glass of wine and a good shelter magazine. Lush just opened a store in Omaha so I'm definitely going to treat myself to a couple of bath bombs, too! Have you tried those? They are so delicious...like buttah!